Tennis teams wrap up OVC schedule by blanking TSU; Women visit ETSU

Apr 13, 2009

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Ohio Valley Conference tournament
picture is cleared up, and the Tennessee Tech men's and women's
teams know who they will be playing next weekend after each Golden
Eagle squad wrapped up conference play Saturday by blanking their
Tennessee State counterpart, 7-0.

The Tech men (11-7 overall/6-2 OVC) will be seeded third and meet
Eastern Illinois Friday in Paducah, Ky., site of the 2009 OVC
tourney. The Golden Eagle women (7-8 overall/6-3 OVC) will close
the regular season Monday with a non-conference match at East
Tennessee State, then head to Paducah where they will be the fourth
seed and meet Murray State.

Tech made short work of Tennessee State, with Golden Eagle players
claiming straight set victories in every singles match that was
played. The Golden Eagles also swept to the doubles points in
lopsided fashion.

In the men's contest, Tech got an 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles, and an
8-1 victory at No. 2 to bolt to a 1-0 match lead. Tech was given
the No. 3 match by default.

Sophomore Dean O'Brien continued his sparkling spring performance
at No. 1 singles, earning a quick 6-0, 6-0 victory over Justin Hamm
to set the stage for the singles action. Josh Girling won 6-1, 6-0
at No. 2, Alex Chen claimed a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 3, Justin
Kirstein managed a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 4, and Oscar Pachon made it
a clean sweep with a win at No. 5 as Gerald Robinson, Jr., retired
trailing 2-0. The No. 6 singles point also went to Tech by default
to make it a 7-0 contest.

The women's match had similar results. Tech won all three doubles
events, losing just one point in sweeping to the 1-0 match lead.
Tech blazed to 8-0 wins at both No. 1 and No. 3 doubles, and
grabbed an 8-1 win at No. 2.

In singles play, it was a 6-1, 6-0 win for sophomore Kelly
Holtshausen at the No. 1 spot. At No. 2, Katie Barnhill rolled to a
6-0, 6-3 victory, followed by Laura Porras at No. 3 with a 6-0, 6-0
whitewash. At No. 4, Evgenia Yartseva also won every point in a
6-0, 6-0 victory. Joanna Corkern tallied a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 5,
and Diana Woodcock made it a 6-4, 6-0 win at No. 6.

The Golden Eagle women play at ETSU Monday at 1 p.m. for the final
regular season action of the year under first-year head coach Dan
Silverstein.